Hook: Remember when Navy ruled the Patriot
League? Not so much anymore, and it's good for the sport that the
rest of the league is pulling even on the field. Top-seeded
Bucknell (6-0 PL) is the fourth team in four years to host the
tournament, and it does so after a dramatic close to the regular
season that saw fourth-seeded Army (2-4) claim that spot only after
Lafayette obliged a tie-breaking formula and beat rival Lehigh by
the necessary one goal - and one goal only - last week to send the
Black Knights into the postseason. A few days earlier, Army rallied
from a five-goal deficit to beat the Leopards. Third-seeded Navy
(4-2) looks for revenge against second-seeded Colgate (5-1) in the
other semifinal. To do so, the Mids must perform better against the
Raiders' well-publicized duo of Brendan Corp and Kevin Colleluori -
each of whom scored three goals in a 10-9 Colgate win in Annapolis.

If you want to see nerve-wracking lacrosse this weekend, then
Lewisburg, Pa., is where you want to be. The Patriot League
men’s championship features four really good teams that
probably need to win the tournament to get to the NCAAs. Army
needed a miracle, and got it, just to get in the conference tourney
and now they’ll to win twice to keep playing. Army is only
6-8, but three losses came in overtime, including a double-overtime
loss to No. 9 Hofstra. Host Bucknell is only 8-6 due to three
one-goal losses, but went a perfect 6-0 in the league. Colgate also
went through near misses early, falling by one to Duke and two to
North Carolina, but has bounced back to finish the regular season
9-4. Navy has the best out-of-conference resume, with wins over
Maryland and Georgetown, but its No. 11 coaches ranking is no
guarantee of a spot without a league title in hand.

MD1: ACC Tournament (in Chapel Hill,
N.C.)

Hook: Maryland must be breathing kind of heavy,
don't you think? The Terps do have wins over North Carolina and
Duke, which helped them earn the No. 1 seed, but a glance at RPI
standings will reveal that they are not necessarily a shoe-in as an
at-large participant. Another win over the Heels would do the
trick, no? Speaking of UNC, will this be the platform on which it
exorcises its ACC demons? For those keeping score at home, the Tar
Heels have not won an ACC game since 2004. UVA will be out for
blood tonight against the only team to knock it off its perch this
year. But there may be no hotter team than Duke right now. Vintage
ACC: locked, loaded, and totally unpredictable.

So we have a 1-in-4 chance of getting it right and a 3-in-4
chance of getting it wrong? Are we still either going to be 1-0 or
0-1? Dubious.

WD1: Atlantic-10 Tournament (in
Philadelphia)

Hook: It's been a heart-stopping campaign for the
A-10, with seemingly every game down the stretch being contested
down to the wire. Richmond has plenty of intrigue in its camp -
what with longtime coach Sue Murphy being forced to resign amidst
an 0-7 start and the discovery of an outside account providing
funds to the team, a ceremonial figurehead and former soccer coach
at the helm (kind of), lacrosse-savvy assistant Allison Nuzzi
calling the shots on the field, and the Spiders' recovery to post a
5-2 mark in the A-10. They've won three of the last four A-10
titles.

WD1: Patriot League Tournament (in
Hamilton, N.Y.)

Hook: Top-seeded Colgate (5-1 PL) hosts, but
there's not much separation among the four participants, each of
which won at least four league games. The Raiders will be tough to
beat, boasting the league's highest-scoring offense (13.94 gpg),
its defensive player of the year (Maddie Kearns) and coach of the
year (Heather Bliss). Fourth-seeded Bucknell got off to a 4-0
league start but dropped its final two in the league and last four
overall, including a 12-7 decision to Colgate. But if PL Goalkeeper
of the Year Alyssa DeLorenz (just a sophomore) gets hot, the Bison
will have a shot. Second-seeded Lehigh, the only PL team to knock
off Colgate, beat third-seeded Navy in Annapolis during the regular
season, 11-7. This matchup figures to involve more scoring.
Mountain Hawk sophomore Lauren Dykstra was the PL Offensive Player
of the Year with 4gpg, and Navy's Erin Rawlick is one of the
nation's most complete threats, ranking fifth in the nation in
points per game and seventh in assists per game.

WD1: ACC Tournament (in Blacksburg,
Va.)

Hook: Predictably, this six-team tournament is
down to semifinal matchups of top-seeded Maryland (16-0 overall)
vs. fourth-seeded Virginia (11-6) and second-seeded North Carolina
(13-3) opposite third-seeded Duke (12-4). It's no secret the
Cavaliers have struggled this season, but they could be rounding
into form at just the right time following a near upset of
Northwestern and a 13-5 drubbing of host Virginia Tech in the first
round. Maryland won the regular-season matchup in Charlottesville
going away, 17-11, but keep that in perspective - the Terps beat
Virginia in the ‘08 regular season only to lose a rematch in
the ACC final. The Blue Devils are glad they needed to wait just
one week for their chance at a rematch against the Tar Heels, who
won at Duke 9-7 last Friday to wrest away a first-round bye. UNC's
play mirrors the surging temperatures expected in the Mid-Atlantic
this weekend, as the Heels have won 10 of their last 11 games.

WD1: Big East Tournament (in
Washington, D.C.)

Hook: Fourth-seeded Louisville is the talk of the
tournament, earning a postseason berth in its first Big East
campaign, courtesy of a thrilling 13-12 victory over Loyola last
week. The Cards will have their hands full with the top-seeded
Hoyas, although they did give Georgetown a scare in a 15-11 loss on
April 11. Syracuse-Notre Dame is the marquee matchup, a rematch of
the Orange's thrilling 14-13 victory over the Fighting Irish on
April 11 in which ND rallied from a 12-3 halftime deficit. Notre
Dame's Jillian Byers leads the conference with 64 goals. Syracuse
has won two straight conference championships, and four games in a
row.

MD1: Notre Dame at Ohio State (in
Ohio Stadium) - Saturday, 11 a.m.

Hook: A football matchup between these two
would be a national event. Not quite in men's lacrosse, but expect
a record crowd nonetheless for an NCAA regular-season game as these
GWLL rivals meet in Ohio Stadium. The gate figure should be
impressive, but so would a win by the Bucks (7-6) -- Notre Dame
stands as the last unbeaten team at 12-0, yet somehow sits at No. 4
in the latest USILA coaches' poll. An OSU win and a Denver win over
Air Force would give the unlikely Buckeyes the conference's
regular-season crown.

Being in my traditional spot away from the top of the
standings, I’m an obvious underdog to win this contest. So
I’m taking the home ‘dogs in front of their big crowds
in three men’s matchups. Why? Because big crowds fuel emotion
in their squads, and when emotion eclipses logic, funny things can
happen in sports. I like the Buckeyes to feed off of the
30,000-plus in the ‘Shoe. Massachusetts has won its last four
against the Orange in Amherst and has too much to play for to lay
down at the school’s football stadium, where the Minutemen
hope to break their own attendance record. And I’ve been to
Kibler Field when the Shoremen have appeared outmatched against
Salisbury on paper, only to fight to the bitter end and then
some.

MD3: No. 5 Salisbury at Washington
College - Saturday, 1 p.m.

Hook: They aren't likely to suffer an emotional
letdown against their archrivals, but the No. 5 Sea Gulls (14-3)
could be at their most ripe for plucking in the War on the Shore in
years. Unranked Washington College (9-5) hasn't taken home the
Charles B. Clark Cup, given to the winner of this annual Eastern
Shore of Maryland grudge match, since the cup's 2004 inception. The
Shoremen have lost two straight and four of their last five outings
and will need every bit of their home field advantage at
contemporarily-cozy Kirby Stadium to pull off the upset.

The unthinkable almost happened in the Division III ranks this
year – an NCAA Tournament without the Sea Gulls. After
winning five of the past six national championships, Salisbury
faced the very real possibility of missing the postseason for the
first time in 22 years. But in a span of four days last week, the
Gulls avenged two of their losses with wins over St. Mary’s
and No. 1 Stevenson and claimed their league’s automatic
berth for the 22-team championship field. The champ is back up off
the canvas, but is there still some fight left? We’ll start
finding out this weekend.

Hook: UMass has been pushing all week to break
its attendance record of 12,143 set in 1989. Apparently, the folks
in Amherst think this is the game to do so. And why not? The two
teams will play at McGuirk Stadium, UMass' football venue, the same
place and same teams that set the scene in '89. This is also a
pivotal game for the Minutemen, considering the ECAC could be a
one-and-done conference. (UMass controls its destiny there, with an
ensuing win over Rutgers ensuring them the conference title and
automatic qualifier.) Syracuse holds a 27-8 lead in the all-time
series, but the Minutemen have won the last four games played in
Amherst.

WD1: No. 3 Penn at No. 1 Northwestern
- Saturday, 7 p.m. Central

Hook: Hate. That's the hook. Hate. The enmity
between these two teams reached fever pitch in the NCAA
championship game, which Northwestern of course won, avenging its
lone regular season loss in 2008. The Wildcats again come into this
game unbeaten, although wounded, with Hilary Bowen trying to
recover from a torn ACL in time for playoffs. A battle of wills
should be expected. How patient can Northwestern be with Penn's
possession-dominant approach? Can Penn pick up the pace enough to
answer one of Northwestern's inevitable runs? Will Penn push NU
into forced feeds and unnecessary turnovers? Can Morgan Lathrop
continue in her run as arguably the nation's most underrated
goalie? This is the game of the week, men or women.

I picked wrong in this game last year, but there’s no way
the Wildcats drop it twice. They get up for Penn like they do for
few other opponents after last season’s loss, and
they’ve already had their traditional, late-season
“Scared Straight” game when they eeked out an 11-10 win
over Virginia.